The Kitchen God’s Wife – Amy Tan

Amy Tan’s writing is rich with beautiful imagery, taking the reader and placing them right in the heart of China. With everything from the words she uses to the way she strings them together, she creates a tale so overflowing with atmosphere, you feel as though you’ve left America and traveled the world in your mind, immersing yourself in a culture rich with tradition and heritage, which may be different from your own but yet welcomes you as a visitor and guest. In “The Kitchen God’s Wife,” we meet mother and daughter, Winnie and Pearl. Pearl is in her forties … Continue reading

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan – Lisa See

“Snow Flower and the Secret Fan” is a fiction novel, but it feels so real, it could almost be nonfiction. I came away smelling the dumplings and ginger, seeing all the images before me. Lily is the narrator, looking back over her life in China with the eyes of the eighty-year-old woman she’s become. She tells of her young childhood, when the diviner comes to set the date for her feet to be bound, and being told that her feet were so remarkable, she might have golden lilies, meaning, the smallest feet possible to attain at the approximate length of … Continue reading